Why Don’t Jet Engines Melt?

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From: Veritasium
Duration: 39:34
Views: 2,938,485

How does a jet engine not melt? Sponsored by KiwiCo - Use code VERITASIUM to get 50% off your first monthly KiwiCo Crate! https://www.kiwico.com/VERITASIUM
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We have a tabletop game launching! Check it out here! - https://ve42.co/kickstarterdje

▀▀▀
0:00 How a jet engine works
3:18 Why are jet engines so big?
5:17 The Inside of a Jet Engine
8:49 Edge Dislocation
11:11 The First Jet Engine
12:48 Inside the Rolls-Royce Precision Casting Facility
17:07 Nickel Superalloys - Gamma Prime
23:58 Crystal Structure
25:38 Making a Turbine Blade
32:22 Why don’t turbine blades melt?
35:30 Throwing Sand Into a Jet Engine

▀▀▀
A big thanks to Ben Todd, James Banks, Ben Fifoot, Doug Smith, Stefan Wagner, Rumaanah Hoosen and the rest of the team at Rolls-Royce.

A huge thanks also to Professor Howard Stone and Dr George Wise from the University of Cambridge.

We’re also incredibly grateful to Professor Jaafar A. El-Awady, Dr Karen A Thole, Professor Cathie Rae, Professor Paul Withey, Professor Pedro Patrício, Professor José Tavares and Ryan Moreman for their time and expertise.

Thanks to Institute for Materials, Ruhr University Bochum, SFB Transregio 103 for the animation showing the microstructure of the nickel superalloy. Full youtube video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYHch5QIWTQ

Thanks to Professor Hongbiao Dong for the animation showing the grain selection in a single crystal turbine blade. Full youtube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br9iaeYYxSM

References: https://ve42.co/JetEngineRefs

▀▀▀
Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:

Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, Anupam Banerjee, armedtoe, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, Hayden Christensen, Ibby Hadeed, Jeromy Johnson, Jon Jamison, Juan Benet, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Bush, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Robert Oliveira, Sam Lutfi, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures & wolfee

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Writers - Emilia Gyles, Casper Mebius & Derek Muller
Producer & Director - Emilia Gyles
Presenters - Derek Muller & Henry Van Dyck
Editor - Trenton Oliver
Camera Operators - Jack Coathupe, Justin Wood, Emilia Gyles, Henry Van Dyck & Derek Muller
Animators - Mike Radjabov, Emma Wright & Fabio Albertelli
Additional Editors - James Stuart & Peter Nelson
Researcher - Aakash Singh Bagga
Thumbnail Designers - Ren Hurley, Ben Powell & Abdallah Rabah
Production Team - Josh Pitt, Matthew Cavanagh, Anna Milkovic & Katy Southwood
Executive Producers - Casper Mebius & Derek Muller

Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound

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jlvanderzwan
1 hour ago
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Is the title a reference to that stupid 9/11 conspiracy about jet fuel?

Great video though! Love the bubble demo, and I'm curious if we have other single-crystal metal things other than turbine blades
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Beam Dump

2 Comments and 3 Shares
We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain.
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jlvanderzwan
2 days ago
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I think I'd be more concerned with the accelerating-to-relativistic-speeds bit that undoubtedly preceded this.
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1 public comment
alt_text_bot
3 days ago
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We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain.

The Most Important Satellite You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of

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From: PBS Space Time
Duration: 15:05
Views: 166,932

Remove your personal information from the web at https://joindeleteme.com/SPACETIME

One of the most important reasons we go to space is to know our own planet better. Today I'm going to tell you about an orbiting facility that literally watches Earth's biosphere breath and grow and die with incredible resolution. I'll talk about its profound existential and economic importance, and about why it's in danger of being lost.

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE

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Pale Blue Dot By Carl Sagan
https://youtu.be/wupToqz1e2g?feature=shared&t=3

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Fernando Franco Félix & Matt O'Dowd
Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria
Directed by Andrew Kornhaber
Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour
Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell

Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios.
This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2025 PBS. All rights reserved.

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka

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jlvanderzwan
3 days ago
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Wow, this is the coolest thing ever! Why have I never heard about this satelite before?!
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choose your zone

1 Comment and 2 Shares

choose your zone

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jlvanderzwan
3 days ago
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Take that Robert Frost
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Girl Genius for Friday, November 14, 2025

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The Girl Genius comic for Friday, November 14, 2025 has been posted.
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jlvanderzwan
4 days ago
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I feel kind of dumb for not realizing earlier that the Dreen were meant to represent *biblically accurate* hunters
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Car Size

5 Comments and 8 Shares
'They really shouldn't let those small cars drive in traffic. I worry I'm going to kill someone if I hit one! They should have to drive on the sidewalk, safely out of the way.'
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jlvanderzwan
4 days ago
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The Dutch, and also some other parts of Europe: "Is this some sort of Car Dependency joke that I'm too Separated Bike Lanes to understand?"

(actually we fucking hate the rise of SUVs too)
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4 public comments
Lythimus
5 days ago
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I just bought a Miata and have driven a motorcycle and a bike in traffic. I got hit by an SUV while riding a bike even. Not sure I get the big vehicle argument.
Destrehan, LA
freeAgent
4 days ago
I was rear ended at a red light by a dump truck that had previously stopped behind my Miata but then forgot it was there and thought it should creep forward toward the intersection...where my car was. It apparently could not see my car directly in front of it.
jlvanderzwan
3 days ago
[that one image comparison between an SUV and a tank and which has the better field of view of what's right in front of them].jpg
rtreborb
5 days ago
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It's the unfortunate state.
San Antonio, TX
wyeager
5 days ago
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Alt text on point.
Blur Area
alt_text_bot
5 days ago
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'They really shouldn't let those small cars drive in traffic. I worry I'm going to kill someone if I hit one! They should have to drive on the sidewalk, safely out of the way.'
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